Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Adam of Club Silencio here with a look at my favorite actresses and their distinguishing claims to fame.

Sissy Spacek is the rarest of Hollywood starlets. Nowadays she contently weaves her wonder into tiny, thankless roles, and so rarely glams up the red carpet or graces the tabloid page. She makes it almost easy to forget her certifiable A-list rank, even as we watch her dazzle and disappear in films like the upcoming Four Christmases. But never turn your back on her; Sissy's always been one for the third act stunner.

Consider it a lesson learned: It's always the quiet ones...

Sissy has mastered the ability to go from meek to madwoman in the blink of a telekinetic eye. How easy we forget that she torched her entire graduating class and took out a sizable portion of the Midwest population. Blame it on her strict religious upbringing or a boyfriend with homicidal tendencies, but Sissy's never one to be underestimated. That pleasant homegrown beauty and peaceful naivete can so readily warm our hearts like a smooth country ballad, but one should always be prepared for Sissy to steal an identity, or something far worse.

Fair enough, her characters often have good reason for turning on a dime -- things like public humiliation or familial loss. But if you think Sissy's always justified in this momentary madness, try saying it to Marisa Tomei's face...

Sissy says of her startling, unhinged moment with Tomei, "She was a really good sport about it, but I felt awful. I mean, she had a bag of ice on her face, to keep the swelling down between takes. And that was our first scene together."

Upon playing Ruth Fowler, her Oscar-nominated role from In the Bedroom, Sissy says she initially found little in common with the emotionally reserved character. But rest assured Sissy quickly found her creative spark as only she could, "I'll be in the middle of throwing a fit and I'll think, 'I've got to remember this, I can use this. This is going in my toolbox.'"

9 comments:

oh sissy how great she was and a bit like meryl in the 80;s always nominated for the best actress award 80,82,84,86 and should've been nommed in 81 for raggedy man,she is one of my faves deffo.

i once had the good fortune to meet her in a lift whilst autograh hunting and she was so charming she had forgotten her glasses and asked he to come up in the lift with her whilst she got them and signed my book,it was really touching.

i was so pissed when halle won the oscar,sissy deserved it not for the smashing plates or the slap simply for the reaction shot when looking at her friends photos.

thanks sissy and here hoping someone gives you at least one more juicy lead role,i also wish she was in doubt.

Poor Sissy. So underused right now. I had the misfortune of watching Four Christmases and felt terrible for her. I admire Sissy so much I went to see Tuck Everlasting because she was in it! The movie was better than I thought. But she deserves better than Four Christmases.

Stunning actress - only 1 of 2 working actresses (Meryl Streep being the other... Jane Fonda doesn't seem to be working anymore) who has more than 5 best actress nominations.

It would be wonderful to see her get more good parts. Although she continues to do great work (as evidenced by her being singled out for praise in Lake City) her pictures in the past two years have seen her in her worst pictures ever in her smallest parts ever. Surely there's better work ahead for her.